Many companies package items and/or groups of items together for a variety of purposes, such as e-commerce and mail-order companies that package items (e.g., books, CDs, apparel, food, etc.) to be shipped to fulfill orders from customers. Retailers, wholesalers, and other product distributors (which may collectively be referred to as distributors) typically maintain an inventory of various items that may be ordered by customers. This inventory may be maintained and processed at a materials handling facility. Such materials handling facilities may include, but are not limited to, one or more of: warehouses, distribution centers, cross-docking facilities, order fulfillment facilities, packaging facilities, shipping facilities, or other facilities or combinations of facilities for performing one or more functions of material (inventory) handling.
Ordered items are typically packed in shipping packages (e.g., corrugated boxes) and shipped to the customer's residence or place of business. Physical delivery of items to user specified locations has improved dramatically over the years, with some retailers offering next day delivery of ordered items, or in some cases even faster delivery (e.g., within 1 or 2 hours). When items are to be delivered, agents, associates, couriers, or other carriers may be tasked with transporting the items to the user specified delivery locations. In some instances, certain factors (e.g., hard to find locations, intricate travel routes, details specific to certain locations, etc.) may make the instructions to the carriers relatively complex and difficult to understand.
While implementations are described herein by way of example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the implementations are not limited to the examples or drawings described. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to limit implementations to the particular form disclosed but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean “including, but not limited to.”